About NCABB

On August 30, 1972, several North Carolinians attending the AABB meeting in Washington, DC had a breakfast meeting to explore possibilities for reorganizing the NC Association of Blood Banks. This Association was primarily comprised of institutional members and was established in late 1959-60, but was inactive at the time. The 21 people at breakfast envisioned an active organization capable of education and dissemination of information throughout the state. It was their belief that the success of this organization was dependent on the individual members, more so than institutions.

A steering committee, selected by the breakfast attendees, met October 7, 1972 in Raleigh and decided to proceed to reorganization. The committee was made up of the following individuals: Cammie Cribb (Durham VA), Jerry Hunter (Forsyth Memorial, W-S), Theresa Kuszak and Michael Leaken (Charlotte Memorial), Eugenia Petteway (Rex, Raleigh), Marue Summerlin (Moses Cone Greensboro) Roy Weaver (Cape Fear Valley, Fayetteville), Mary Wientjes (UNC Chapel Hill) Mary Shepherd (Serologicals - Asheville), Betty Baker (American Red Cross-Charlotte) and John Credle (VA Oteen). They notified the board of directors of the NC Association of Blood Banks and created a By-Laws committee and interim officers: Mary Shepherd -President, Roy Weaver -President elect, Dr. Michael Leaken -Treasurer, and Eugenia Petteway -Secretary. The membership dues were set at $5 per year with charter members accepted until May 3, 1973, which was the date set for the first annual meeting of the new organization. To illuminate the founding vision of an association of individual members, it was renamed the North Carolina Association of Blood Bankers.

Today NCABB, Inc, is over 40 years old, and remains an active, educational, non-profit organization of individual blood bankers throughout North Carolina, with many expatriates of the state who continue their membership. Members can be found in diverse settings: hospitals both large and small, private and public, as well as universities, and blood centers. The NCABB remains committed to being a strong voice and a source of local education for blood bank professionals in the state with the goal of building on the proud history of the organization.

Highlights of the Most Recent Years

NCABB, Inc. officially obtained non-profit status in 1999, and was incorporated in 2001. This website was developed in 2002. Although annual meetings can be eventful, there are two that stand out from all the rest. One meeting was scheduled for two days after 9/11/01, when many speakers could not fly in to speak, and every break found the attendees gathered around televisions set up in the lobby of the hotel. The second occurred in 1989, the first year that the organization established the Petteway-Shepherd award. Dr Patrick Mollison was flow in from England to receive the award and to speak. Held in Wrightsville Beach, Hurricane Hugo threatened off the Georgia and South Carolina coast. Although the hotel was boarding up the windows, the meeting began on time. As Hugo approached, the hotel insisted that the meeting had to be canceled. Dr. Mollison was rushed off to Charlotte for safety, however Hurricane Hugo changed course and moved across land – through South Carolina, and making a direct hit on the Charlotte area. It was probably one of Dr Mollison’s most eventful speaking engagements!